By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays starting temperature was 61 (F) 16 (C) and the conditions were sunny with blue skies.

Before I even left this morning cam watcher Campgee reported the first feeding of the day was occurring. When I arrived in the hole (Aqueduct St.) at 5:20am I didn’t see any falcons at first. Around 5:30am I managed to catch Beauty fly off cam 4. I drove up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) and spotted a PEFA on the 3rd northwest side. I drove to Troup St. for a closer view and could see that it was the Beautyful one.

She flew off 25 minutes later headed north toward the Times Square Building (TSB).

I took off and thought I saw her fly from the nest box area as I approached from Exchange Blvd. When I got to the BSB I could see her on the heel of  Mercury.

I could see 2 eyases up near the nest box.5 minutes later Beauty flew to the column above the nest box. I drove to the parking lot on the north side of the TSB to watch from the best angle.

At 6:19am Dot.Ca (DC) flew to the north side of the deck by the main cam with food. Beauty flew down and grabbed it from him and started feeding the eyas that was in the front as it slept thru the first feeding this morning as reported by Campgee. Thanks for your assistance! I scooted across the street to the hole and found DC on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR.

At 6:27am Beauty flew to the heel of Mercury with DC remaining on the OCSR south corner.

As I watched from Falcon Watcher Central (FWC) Mr. Housefinch stopped by on top of the light pole by Thomson Reuters and started singing for the Mrs.

I left for the Brighton Site (BS) at this time to try and get there before Pigott left but I had no such luck. I arrived there at 7am to a falconless site. 20 minutes later as I drove down Exchange Blvd. I saw Beauty fly off the jail tower. I stopped at Broad St. and could see DC was still on OCSR.

I went looking on the east side for Beauty but came up empty. Upon returning from the east side I crossed the Court St. bridge stopping to have a look around, when I spotted Beauty flying southeast. A worker from the Blue Cross Arena (BCA) came over to ask if I was watching the falcons. Of course I started telling him about our 3 babies this year and gave him a rfalconcam business card so he could check us out.

Again I checked the east side and returned via the BSB. I went down to the hole to watch DC on OCSR but he took off while I was tweeting. At 7:37am I noticed DC on the 3rd ibeam south corner with prey.

DC flew off with his small package to the deck and flew right back off again with it.

<leaving OCSR      Leaving deck>

I don’t know where he went so I drove up to the BSB where I met up with LarryO followed by young Joe (Viper) and his dad Mike. DC showed up on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR and a few minutes later Beauty flew in to land on the main cam.

While there a couple women from Buffalo asked what we were doing. Larry filled them in and I showed them some of my pics. They were surprised at how big the wing span is on a falcon. I gave them a business card and told them to check us out as they were leaving. Everyone seemed to be settled in so I called it a watch and so did Larry,Joe and Mike. We all smiled from seeing the eyases up on the deck as well as Beauty and DC! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos

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http://youtu.be/rrPzpS90g3Y
http://youtu.be/_JLPF0e-mdM
http://youtu.be/m_ZKrs2B12M
http://youtu.be/8yfLNkKbPwA

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Todays weather featured more of the same soggy conditions. Rain,humidity,fog and dark with a starting temperature of  63 (F) 17 (C)

Happy Canada Day to all our Canadian friends today!

Arriving in the hole at 5:23am my first falcon sighting was Beauty flying out from the nest box area to the top ibeam west corner of OCSR.

At 6:11am I spotted Dot.Ca (DC) on the south corner.

<Beauty   DC>

They were both in hunt mode taking time to stretch and poop in between.

<DC    Beauty>

The Beautyful one took off while I was watching DC around 6:30am. I went up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) after a few minutes to look for her. DC was now on the Mercury money bag as the misty rain turned into a shower.

Campgee and Annette both reported that Beauty was on cam 4 (thank you). But when I looked she was gone and DC left Mercury while I looked for Beauty. Some days are like that! At 6:47am I spotted Beauty back on the top ibeam west corner of OCSR.

A couple minutes later she flew to the north end of the deck and hopped in toward the nest box out of view. Now the fog was starting to drop down and the rain picked up. From the hole I could see a falcon on the west corner top ibeam of OCSR and with the help of cam watcher Donna was able to determine that it was Beauty. Thanks for the assist! It was at this time I thought I’d go to the Brighton site to check. After 3 trips around the place I tweeted no falcons seen and returned to downtown around 7:30am. There were no adult PEFAs in sight but I did see 2 eyases up on the deck.

Now parked in the hole I spotted Beauty once again on the west corner of OCSR. It was a tough morning for catching prey since they were staying out of the rain.

I ended my watch early just before the 8 o’clock hour. Seeing those babies up on the deck surely was cause to smile despite the lousy weather! 🙂

2 video links are below-just click and view

http://youtu.be/ClVjeEv4L_w
http://youtu.be/9TwhIrUOXVw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This mornings weather can best be described as soupy. High humidity and dewpoint, rain and fog with a starting temperature of 66 (F) 19 (C)

I arrived in the hole at 5:25am with dark,dreary,dank and drippy conditions. The weather certainly was the story on this morning watch.

I didn’t see either adults around but I did see one of the eyases on the north end of the deck-it would be my first falcon sighting of the day.

I went up to the Broad St. bridge (BSB) to have a look around and spotted a PEFA on the 3rd arm southeast side of the jail tower. The best spot to view was from Court St. next to the Blue Cross Arena (BCA) where I could ID it as Beauty.

The Beautyful one was in hunt mode as she watched for a prey bird to fly near her. 10 minutes later she took off after a pigeon but I lost sight of her behind the Hall of Justice.

Please forgive the bad pics today-the weather is to blame. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! lol

At 5:50am I turned onto Exchange Blvd. heading north toward the Times Square building (TSB) and as I approached Broad St. I could see that Beauty had missed her mark, for she was perched on the southeast corner of the deck by the main cam. I pulled over in front of the BCA before heading back to the hole next to He’s Chinese.

A minute later she flew up to the main cam.

Beauty stayed there for the next 15 minutes looking around and then I watched her fly over to the OCSR south corner top ibeam.

At 6:20am Beauty flew off crossing the river to the east side and out of my line of vision. From the BSB I could see all 3 eyases. For the next hour I searched downtown for a falcon to no avail, so I left for the Brighton site (BS).

I call them the 3 Falconeers

As I pulled onto the entrance road at BS at 7:30am the rain, which up to this point had just been a very light  spritz turned into a moderate shower. I expected if Pigott was there she would be hunkered down on a protected window ledge but she surprised me when I spotted her on the east end of the south side vent.

I didn’t stay long at all with Miss Pigott returning downtown to try and find Dot.Ca (DC) who was elusive thus far. I had received a tweet from cam watcher Campgee that Beauty had brought breakfast and the eyases were being fed. Thank you! I knew where Beauty was so I could look for DC when I landed downtown.It wasn’t meant to be, as I searched the city in every direction and couldn’t locate him.

The conditions had deteriorated while I was gone in that the fog was lower on the roof tops,the rain was pouring down out of the sky and the high humidity was giving me fits trying to keep my windows from fogging up. Needless to say visibility was low. After my search for DC I just parked on the BSB and the rain eventually slowed down to where I could see the nest box and deck area a bit better. I could see 1 eyas out front on the deck and Beauty feeding at the front of the nest box.

I made one more trip around the city only to return to the BSB frustrated that I wasn’t able to find DC. I could see Beauty up in front of the nest box.

Although I didn’t see DC and the weather was less than desirable I did end my watch smiling for the plain and simple fact that I am lucky enough to see falcons every day of my life! 🙂

2 video links are below just click and view

http://youtu.be/Fc8VwUNln4U
http://youtu.be/opQM2nNTrgw

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

When I left work today, it was still very warm & humid, but overcast and spitting rain.  They were forecasting rain starting tonight and going through tomorrow afternoon.  Plus the temps were going to be lower tomorrow, low 70’s (F).  I decided to head downtown directly from work, since I wasn’t sure when the rain would begin.

I arrived on the Broad St Bridge (BSB) a little before 4:00 pm.  Beauty was on the Pan Cam aka Cam #1 and Dot.ca was on the top IBeam, south corner of OCSR.  I could make out one of the eyases at the base of main cam on the north side, closest to Beauty.

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At 4:30 pm, Dot.ca flew up underneath the NE wing on the Times Square Bldg (TSB).  Beauty remained on Pan Cam and the eyases continued to flap their wings, strengthening them for those first fledge flights.

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At 5:00 pm, Beauty took off from Pan Cam and landed on the Mercury statue’s heel.

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Beauty was definitely in hunt mode.  She stooped off of Mercury, over the river and zipped around the corner of the TR Bldg, heading back to the Times Square Bldg. where she landed on the Main Cam and off again.

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Now I could see two of the eyases on the left (south) side of the outer platform near base of Main Cam.  They were beak to beak!

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Dot.ca took off from the top of the TSB and headed NE over the river, now he was in hunt mode too!  Beauty came back in and landed on the nest box platform near the eyases.  From Falcon Central (on Broad St, across from the Blue Cross Arena aka  War Memorial) I could hear them vocalizing, letting her know they were hungry.  Beauty landed on the left side of the platform and dropped off the right side a few seconds later.  She was back on the hunt.

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* Be sure to click on pics for full view.

I hated to leave while they were hunting, but I had to.  I left both Beauty and Dot.ca on the OCSR.  Beauty on the top IBeam at the west end and Dot.ca on the 2nd IBeam down on the south corner.  The eyases were not visible from the street below and they were quiet.  It was a good time to leave, if there ever is a good time.  lol

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During my watch, Joyce reported seeing Pigott for the 2nd time today at the BS location.  So all three adult Rochester Falcons were seen this afternoon and all three eyases continue to flap, flap, flap up at the nest box.  I ended my watch at 6:15 pm.  A big thank you to Ei and Larry O for helping me out during my watches yesterday and today.  Thanks!

I’ll leave you with a couple pics of our very beautiful, friendly neighborhood finch pair.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

When I stepped out the door today I was hit with some pretty humid air and the car was covered with dew as the temperature was 63 (F) 17 (C).  It was mostly cloudy with the sun peeking thru at times but it was short lived.

I arrived at Bank Place in the hole at 5:20am where I saw Beauty straight ahead of me on the heel of Mercury. There was a pinkish hue in the sky behind her making for a unique silhouette shot of her.

5 minutes later she flew west out of view behind the Philipone building. I drove around to the parking lot where He’s Chinese is located and to look for Beauty but didn’t see her. I had no idea if maybe she was at the nest box so I took a drive down State St. To my surprise I found Dot.Ca (DC) on the top arm south side of the Frontier Communications Tower (FCT). I parked on Church St. across from Frontier to observe him.

He was intent on looking for a meal and flew off after 5 minutes passed heading east. At the same time cam watcher Annette reported the eyases were being fed. Thanks!

I followed DC without my binocs so I could drive that way and try to keep track of where he went. The traffic in the city at that time of the morning is very light so I was able to follow him as he did a quick stoop over the river on a pigeon which escaped his clutches. DC then turned toward the south above the  river and I was able to follow him as I drove along State St. I lost him behind OCSR but when I pulled in the hole I saw that he was on the top ibeam south corner of OCSR.

When I checked the nest box area 2 of the eyases were in view. They are growing at such an accelerated rate  that they look different from morning to night.

I went down to Graves St. next to Aqueduct St. which turned out to work in my favor as DC took off from there at 5:54am and stooped on a pigeon right above me.  It’s so cool to see them in action that it kind of freezes you in place.

Anyway, DC missed as the pigeon veered off toward the tree tops in Aqueduct Park and he continued on flying west over the north building of Thomson Reuters. I whipped up to the hole and spotted DC on the east side railing of Widows Walk and Beauty on the column above the nest box.

She was napping so I wondered if she even saw her mate fly thru. lol He had his back to me so I drove over to Broad St. near Fitzhugh and once more DC cooperated by moving to the south side railing which was on the side I was viewing from now. 5 minutes later he took off to the west out of sight in a hurry at 6:05am.

After driving up on the Broad St. Bridge (BSB) I could see 2 kids on the deck as Beauty watched from above.

Click on my pics to see the full version

I then went to Exchange Blvd. in front of the Blue Cross Arena to hang with Beauty and the gang for a few minutes.

<click them

I left them to check the Brighton site. Arriving there at 6:53am I was pleased to find Pigott at home being the first time in about 5 days that I have seen her in the morning. Evening watchers have been seeing her regularly. She was on the southeast corner of the southeast extension.

Miss Pigott flew off 10 minutes later around the north (front) side of the building and I found her on the west side 5 windows down .

Pigott continues to have her tattered left wing and tail feathers but it doesn’t seem to be affecting her ability to thrive and take care of herself. At 7:54am Pigott flew over to the east side.  Larry pulled up to tell me he saw her over there on his way in. He told me there wasn’t much going on downtown where he had come from and then he was off to work. I drove around to find Pigott on the northeast corner of the northeast extension.

While she was up there a robin buzzed her 3 different times-the first attack caught Miss Pigott off guard and she nearly fell off the corner. In the hour that she was up there I observed her preening and watching her territory as well as that pesky robin. She flew off to the southeast at 8:50am.

She didn’t return so I left to check downtown before calling it a watch. Mom and dad were on the OCSR together with Beauty at the west corner and DC a few feet away on the top ibeam.

<click it

I left downtown at 9:20am exactly 4 hours after I arrived and smiling for having seen all of our Rochester Peregrine Falcons! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos

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http://youtu.be/O534Koh7v4g
http://youtu.be/wxd9oVS_5qw
http://youtu.be/F7zPHD5LKqY
http://youtu.be/QhdWIRYXJBQ

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

Watchers that joined me this evening:  Kathy O and Larry O.

The weather was just about perfect for a summer evening, with a beautiful breeze.  There were no bugs out to distract us from watching our falcons tonight.

Kathy O usually stops at the BS location when she gets out of work and has seen Pigott the last couple days.  I really wanted to see her, so I headed there first.  When I arrived around 6:30 pm, I was greeted by the awesome vocalizations of two Peregrine Falcons coming from the “cubby” on the west end of the building.  From the sound of  it, Dot.ca had decided to visit Pigott for a short time.

They were both inside the cubby and they were both quite loud.  After a few moments, Dot.ca came out to the edge where I could see him and Pigott continued to vocalize.

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Dot.ca took off and flew to the south side of the building.  Pigott continued to vocalize from inside the cubby.

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Dot.ca landed on the south side of the building for about five minutes before taking off, heading south.  As soon as Dot.ca left the building, Pigott went silent.  I drove around to the south side of the building and waited to see if he would return.  He did not.  More than likely, he headed back downtown.

I drove around to the northwest side of the building and found Pigott up on the NW corner of the NW extension.

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Kathy O joined me and we stayed at BS watching Pigott for awhile before heading downtown.  I stayed a little longer hoping to get a flight shot to see how her tail feathers are doing.  She stayed where she was checking out all the activity around her.  No Turkey Vultures seen tonight.  She looked great to me.

Kathy O arrived downtown before me and reported Dot.ca on the Times Square Bldg (TSB) under SE wing, Beauty on Cam 4 and two eyases in view from below.

I joined Kathy O and Larry O at Falcon Watch Central on Broad St across from the Blue Cross Arena (aka War Memorial).  Beauty flew off of Cam 4 and over the river heading east.  Then Dot.ca took off from the TSB and flew low in front of the OCSR heading in the same direction.  We were unable to see where they went.

Beauty returned and landed on the base of the Mercury statue.

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Chris, who lives nearby joined us.   I am really happy that the folks around this area are taking an interest in the falcons.  It will be nice to have more people watching out for them.

Just as Chris joined us, Dot.ca flew back in from the east and headed straight for the TSB.  He turned back and ended up landing on Mercury’s money bag hand.

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When we left at about 8:15 pm, all was quiet and peaceful and both Beauty and Dot.ca were on guard duty from the Mercury statue.  The eyases seemed to have settled down.  When we first arrived, there was a lot of flapping wings seen at the nest box.  It was time to call it a Watch.  Good night everyone!

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

Another warm, muggy start to the day with a temperature of 72 (F) 22 (C) and a busy breeze.

I found Beauty on cam 4 as  I arrived at 5:20am on Bank Place, the one way street that leads down to the hole (Aqueduct St.) off Exchange Blvd.

I went over to Exchange Blvd. in front of the Blue Cross Arena for a better view of the Beautyful one and the deck area of the nest box.

Always click on my pics for a full view

Dot.Ca (DC) wasn’t around yet but I could see one of the eyases up on the front ledge of the nest box as Beauty stretched out her wings.

At 5:50am Beauty switched perches and went over to the main cam which I believe was because one of the eyases was over there under it. At one point she tried bringing up a pellet as she preened and watched the kids while up there.

At 6:22am Beauty stooped after something over in the hole and came up by the Thomson Reuters building without success. She returned to the main cam as baby had a front seat to watch mom.

Beauty would remain on the main cam overlooking her offspring so I decided to take a ride over to Brighton around 6:50am to see if Pigott was home. Right after I left LarryO tweeted that he was watching Beauty and 2 eyases. Pigott was not around and neither was the vulture from yesterday. Just before 7:30am cam watcher Annette tweeted that the little darlings were being fed and Larry tweeted that DC had brought in food. I left for downtown after that and when I arrived I found Beauty on cam 1 (pan cam) and DC under the northeast wing.

I checked out both sides of the Broad St. Bridge  to see what kind of activity was going on since the water level is way down and inviting to shore birds now. On the south side there were Canadian Geese and ducks over by the Rundell Library falls and on the north side mallard ducks. Of course it goes without saying that gulls were present on both sides.

All was good in the falcon world as Beauty and DC watched over their family on the Times Square building. So I happily ended my watch at 8:05am with a smile! 🙂

Click on the links below to view more pics and videos

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http://youtu.be/NyFjClSGVqY
http://youtu.be/U1TTOb5joLA
http://youtu.be/nkKCzyfL_B8
http://youtu.be/SJxU9tQmx9M

Harold and I arrived downtown around 6:45. Did not see Margaret this morning.

Parked on the Broad St bridge. Pretty quickly located Beauty on main cam as Mak reported, and could also see 2 eyases out on the platform. It was pretty uneventful for most of the time.

Sometime later, Beauty snuck off of main cam while I was fooling with the messaging part of my smart phone. It took a couple of minutes, but I found her on Mercury.

Later Beauty commenced a rather measured stoop on pigeons in the little park next to the South Ave ramp garage. She disappeared behind the garage, but pretty quickly I caught sight of a flock of pigeons coming out of the park. She missed, and made her way to the northeast wing of  Times Square.

Still no sign of DC.

Beauty then circled twice over Broad, the river and Exchange St, and from yesterday, I started looking for DC. He came in from the east today, down Broad St. DC flew straight to the scrape and dropped off a package. While he was there, Beauty came in and took the package. She circled once and came back to the scrape. She started feeding the eyases and DC went to the Times Square northeast wing.

I guess Beauty is laying down the law on who feeds whom.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher Carol P.

For the 2nd day in a row, Kathy O has found Pigott at the BS location before coming downtown to join me on my evening Falcon Watch.

When I arrived downtown, I found Kathy O parked on the Broad St Bridge (BSB), so I parked behind her.  She caught me up on what she had seen just before I arrived at approximately 7:00 pm.

It was another beautiful Summer evening with temps in the 80’s (F).

Beauty was on main cam and Dot.ca was directly above the nest box below the NE wing.  His usual spot when on guard.

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Just as I was getting out of the car, Beauty took off and flew towards us and over the river.  She turned back and flew over the Radisson and turned back towards the Times Square Bldg.  She circled the area, gaining altitude.  After flying around and stretching her wings, she returned to the TSB to land on the main camera.

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Baron came out to join her on the end of the platform on the north side of the base of the main camera.  I could see him very clearly from Aqueduct St (aka “the hole”).

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* To see Baron, you need to click on this picture.

At 8:00 pm, I decided to call an end to my Watch.  Kathy O was gone and all was peaceful and quiet.  I left Beauty on main camera at the nest box with the three eyases and Dot.ca above on guard below the NE wing of the TSB.

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All three adult Rochester Peregrines; Pigott, Beauty and Dot.ca had been seen this evening, plus all three eyases at the nest box.  Every day we see all of them is a very good day indeed.  Night all!

Duck! Duck! Goose!  🙂

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The Court Exchange Bldg.  Someone on live streaming chat was asking what building this was seen by Camera 1.

By Rochester Falcon Watcher MAK

This morning I started my watch under overcast skies with a temperature of 72 (F) 22 (C) and humid conditions.

I arrived in the hole (Aqueduct St.) at 5:21am finding Beauty on the main cam.

Parked next to He’s Chinese, I would wait an hour for her first movement when she flew out around Mercury and returned to the Times Square building (TSB) landing on the column above the nest box.

Click on pics for full version

The Beautyful one was in hunt mode watching everything that moved and most likely looking for Dot.Ca (DC) as well. Around 6:45am Larry stopped by to get the scoop before going up to the Broad St. Bridge (BSB). I remained in the hole waiting for a food delivery by DC or a catch by Beauty. It would happen less than 10 minutes later when Beauty flew out and came back to the southeast corner of the deck along with DC. I’m not sure who or if either one had food or who is who in the following pics so I’ll just let you decide for yourself.

At the time I thought DC brought food, Beauty took it and started feeding eyases as DC flew up under the northeast wing.

Just about 7am DC took off to the north and came back with a small package landing on the northeast corner of the deck.

DC then left again and I thought he had cached the little bird he had but he in fact returned with it landing on the main cam. I missed him going to the main cam as I thought I better go up on the BSB for a broader view of things.

I could see that Beauty was feeding the family when DC hopped down to the deck and that’s when I could see the little birdie he held in his beak.

Click pic to see DC full version

I watched as Beauty flew off and I believe DC was up there feeding the kids with his catch.

I left to check the Brighton site at this point knowing the action was over now that everyone had eaten. When I arrived at 7:30am I could not miss the large bird on the northeast corner of the east extension as I drove down the entrance road. I pulled over to look with my binocs and was surprised to see that it was a Turkey Vulture.

I drove around the building to see if Pigott was home but she was nowhere to be found. I parked on the east side to observe the TV for 15 minutes before leaving.

To my knowledge it is the falcon that drives off a vulture but in this case I wonder if the reverse has taken place since I haven’t seen Pigott in a couple days. Stay tuned Rochester Falcon fans for stranger things have happened here! I made my way back downtown for one last check of our falcon family and found Beauty on the column above the nest box and DC above all of them under the northeast wing. All was good in their world and mine bringing a smile to my face as I ended my watch at 8am! 🙂

Click on the links below to see more pics and videos

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http://youtu.be/Nroxb_kLMkc
http://youtu.be/ayDVfuo-OS8